Strings and Superstitions
by askhernotme
Summary: When 14-year-old Gajeel finds out that he's been nominated for a guitar competition against many others his age in Crocus, his best friend, Wendy, decides to come along. However, with a ghost making their acquaintance in Gajeel's dreams, and a new friend named Juvia, what'll happen to the competition?
1. Chapter One: The Terror Begins

**Welcome to the first chapter of Strings and Superstitions! This story will mostly contain the characters Gajeel and Wendy, (Like a brother and sister relationship!) but Juvia will slowly be added into the story and so will other characters. No, there is no romance in this story. Except for the hinted GaJuvia moments ^.^. Anyways, I've been improving my writing skills (which means fewer people that are OOC, which is good for me and you)**

 **Plus, there will be some OCs but only because they are competing against Gajeel, and I like making others have little small crushes on him (only 2-3 characters will have a crush on him) but don't worry, none of the weird OCs I make will end up with him. I hate Canon Characters x OCS, and Gajeel will end up with a certain bluenette. No, not that one! And not Wendy either!**

 **Let's get started~**

* * *

It was a sunny Sunday morning. The birds chirped happily away as the sun beamed down on the world. In a little small city called Magnolia Town, stood a short-spiky-haired boy with piercings, scowling at the scorching heat. He had a forest green t-shirt and black shorts, with boots and metal shaping around it.

''So glad you could join us, Gajeel.'' a short, small man with an orange hoodie and blue and orange jester hat smiled at him.

''Whatever.'' the boy named Gajeel Redfox grumbled as he held his guitar music notes close to his chest.

Gajeel sat down on the couch with his companions, Kikori Shohet and Shino Teruu.

''As you may know, you three have auditioned to go to the Young Guitarists Solo Competition,'' Makarov Dreyar got straight down to business and stacked some paperwork, letting it fall on his desk. He was always a business man but was always friendly towards other people.

Gajeel held his breath. This is it, the moment where everyone would tell him that he wasn't good enough and that all that practicing was for nothing and it would all just go down the drain. That's why Metalicanna left him, right? His father probably knew that he would be a failure, so he left him alone with his mother. She died shortly afterward since she had a terrible sickness.

''and I'm so proud of you three! You made it! I can't wait to hear you play... and of course, see the lovely ladies there...'' the little old man trailed off, nose-bleeding at the thought.

Yep, and there it was... he was indeed a fai-wait, what?

''Why do you look so surprised, Gajeel?'' Kikori asked, her face expressionless.

Kikori was always a Straight A student and had excellent grades. She never had less than an A before. Not even an A-, only A+'s. However, he found it kind of creepy that she was always watching him like a hawk when he was talking to others. Especially _girls._ She would always clench her fists, bow politely, and leave, with her face red from anger. And the creepiest part about her was that she was always emotionless.

He slowly closed his mouth, finding it rather hard now because he's been doing it for about 6 minutes.

''Aww, come on! Why does Gajeel always enter the competitions? For the last 5 years, he's won more competitions than Kikori and I combined!'' Shino complained, crossing his arms over his chest.

Shino... wasn't always the best one for competitions. He had only won 3 of them but was always nervous. Shino would often tremble and shake, and at times he would cry.

Nevertheless, he was outgoing towards his friends and shy towards strangers. However, he didn't really like Gajeel. He was a stupid, showoff orphan, and a crush-stealing boy. It was clear to him thatKikori had a crush on Gajeel.

* * *

Wendy Marvell sighed as she lay on her bed, thinking what to write. She was only 12 years old but was the best in her middle school. Right now, she was trying to write a story, but, of course, she had writer's block, something common in the writing community.

'Maybe I could ask Lucy-san... she's always nice and helping me.' though Wendy, as her mind wandered over to the blonde girl. Lucy Heartfillia, a rich teenage girl, who was always thoughtful.

Just then, her train of thought stopped as she heard her cell phone ring. Groaning, she picked it up and instantly accepted the call, seeing that it was Gajeel, her upperclassman best friend.

''Heyo.'' she commented happily.

''Oi, Windy, I just got accepted into the Yolo Competition or whatever it's called... for guitar.'' he replied rather too calmly.

She squealed into the phone, making a too high pitched sound. ''Congrats! And it's Solo Competition, not Yolo Competition, Gajeel,'' she replied excitedly.

''Yeah.. yeah, anyways, it's in Crocus and I'll probably be gone so-''

Wendy immediately gasped. ''I'm going with you then! I can be a page-turner or something! You're planning on doing a long music piece, though, right?'' Wendy had always wanted to go to Crocus. She would always fantasize about being there, but now her best friend has the offer to go there... Wendy might as well, too, right?''

''Wendy...''

'That's one of the first few times he has called me by my name... I-I think he doesn't want me to go... Well, I've been very greedy these fast few 20 seconds.' she thought.

''Y-Yeah?'' she cursed at herself mentally for stuttering. She was a little scared when Gajeel got serious.

''Never mind. I have to go, see ya..'' he awkwardly said, exiting the phone call.

She sighed and brushed her skirt. ''I can't believe it... now it's going to be weird between us. And we're best friends... well, it was partly my fault for being such a ditz back there... using him to get me to Crocus.''

Gajeel slumped on his bed and sighed. Some may say that it was a really uncomfortable bed, but to him, it was the comfiest bed in the world. He may not show it, but he was always grateful for even the _smallest_ things.

And now, his best friend and he aren't talking because of that Crocus thing. 'Might as well let her come... ugh... but she's also really annoying... eh, I'll sleep on it.'

Secretly, Gajeel knew if anyone could get to Crocus with him, it would be Wendy.

* * *

Gajeel walked on a cobblestone path, trying to find his Fairytail Music class. He felt burning eyes watching his back every time he walked. Eventually, he walked a faster pace. The person did as well. Now, he found himself running away from the stranger, as night began to fall and rain began to pour down on him. Drenched in his own sweat and rain, he found the Fairytail building, hearing the all kinds of instruments like the violin to piano playing in the distance made him relax. He was not alone anymore.

''Finally, now I can prac-'' Gajeel was cut off short as he realized all the lights were turned on, but nobody was in the room. He slightly trembled.

''I'm not scared... I'm never scared. What's wrong with me?'' he cried out, clenching his fists. He was not like this. He was tough, not a little crybaby.

Gajeel entered the violin section and saw that the light was off. He quickly reached for the light switch and instantly, the lights were on. 'Hm, nobody's here..' he thought to himself, forgetting the whole scenario that happened in the piano room.

Just then, he heard a beautiful violin playing in one of the auditioning rooms. A short, bluenette was playing a violin, with her orange dress swaying back and forth. She opened her eyes and smiled at Gajeel.

The girl then mouthed the words, ''Levy.'' and Gajeel found his vision going black.

Gajeel instinctively yelped and fell off the bed. Rubbing his head and groaning, he sighed and sat on it again. Night terrors were the worst. All of the other nightmares, if you could call them that, were him buying cookies and people stealing it from him. And someone smashing his guitar in front of him. Then a nightmare when he went on stage naked. Oh god, please don't happen anytime soon.

Except, that this one was special. He had a gut feeling that this Levy person was trying to tell him something.

But he didn't know what.

* * *

 **And there we have it, folks. How do you like the idea of a Gajeel/Wendy friendship? I certainly like it! Don't feel scared to tell me what you think!**

 **See you next week!**

 **~Chuu3**


	2. Chapter Two: The Redhead

The sunny skies were clouded with darkness as passengers got on the train hurriedly. Gajeel, Wendy, Makarov, Kikori, and Shiro all boarded the train with their luggage and instruments they would be needing for the competition, except for Wendy, who carried her choir music sheet.

As they all sat down, the train immediately started to move, causing everyone to snap them out of their tired trance. Gajeel found his face turn pale, then a light green color.

''Here,'' Wendy took the brown bag out of her backpack and handed it towards him.

''Th-'' Gajeel was cut off as he threw up again, face turning pale once again. He groaned, looking out the window and sighed drowsily.

''That girl with the red hair is looking at me weirdly,'' Wendy fumbled with her fingers awkwardly.

''Tell her to fu- bleh!'' Gajeel found himself sweating and panting, as his face became flushed. (Not like that you perverts!) He hated having motion sickness!

Wendy sighed. ''That would be rude. You're the one who tells people those kinds of things, not me.'' she countered, leaning against her seat and studying her vocal sheet music.

Wendy eyed the seat next to her, finding Makarov already snoring in his seat and Shiro reading a book, while Kikori was listening to music on her phone, hot pink headphones enclosed in her ears.

She then looked straight forward down the aisle to see if the redhead was still watching her carefully, and she was.

Wendy blushed in embarrassment. Just then, the same girl walked down the aisle, guitar in her seat. Was she also a competitor in the competition?

''Hello.'' she heard a voice say above her.

''Um... hi.'' Wendy replied quietly.

''I'm Erza Scarlet, a proud competitor in the Young Guitarist Competition!'' she sounded like a cocky little girl, but Wendy knew better than to judge people immediately after they introduce themselves.

''I-I'm Wendy Marvell, part of Fairytail's singing classes.'' she stated, raising her voice a little so she could be heard.

Erza had on a long white sleeved shirt, and on top of it was a gray short sleeve. (Wendy just can't believe it's armor) Her white collar around the neck had a red, loose ribbon hanging from it. A brown belt buckle was raised on her waist, as a long, white skirt flowed down past her ankles. Instead of tights, she wore leggings. To top it off, she had a dark brown (what seemed to be like, and yes this is in shoe vocabulary) apron toe.

''Oh, well, a pleasure to meet you, Wendy,'' Erza greeted. ''I'm also part of Fairytail. However, I am in the intermediate guitar group, but I am the best in the class, and they let me travel to Crocus for the competition!'' she exclaimed joyfully, forgetting her surroundings and muttering between the lines of 'cake' and 'strawberries.'

''Riiight... uh, anyways, my friend is also competing. Say hi, Gajeel.'' Wendy jabbed him in the ribs, causing him to drool and almost spit.

Gajeel was almost about to completely doze off until someone decided it was a good time to introduce themselves to Windy. How dare they interrupt him while he's sleeping! He'll show them what'll happen! The last kid that messed with him ended up in the hospital for a month.

''Huh...'' he wiped the spit off of his shirt, then looked at Erza, muttering, ''oh, you're that weird kid that's been stalking Windy since we got on the bus,'' Gajeel replied, leaning back against his seat and ignoring his stomach; which gave him the strong urge to vomit.

''Excuse me? I will not tolerate this behavior, Gajeel!'' Erza suddenly had a dark aura around her, which made Wendy scratch the back of her head anxiously.

''So? What are ya going to d-'' the strawberry cake lover punched him in the gut, causing him to completely pass out and forget his sentence.

Wendy's face instantly went pale. ''Don't worry, he'll wake up before we get to Crocus.'' Erza calmed her.

''Eh? What's going on? Huh? Erza? Is that you?'' Makarov scratched the top of his bald head in confusion.

* * *

Gajeel woke up in an alley, his mind fuzzy and blank with no memories.

 _What the heck is happening?_

Scowling, he found his legs rising on their own, and walking to the graveyard.

 _I'm not even walking on my own! What the hell is going on here?_

''Hey! This isn't funny!'' he shouted angrily.

Gajeel then suddenly stopped to a halt, making his legs feel like wobbling Jell-O and his body instantly tumbled backward.

 _Shit. My reflexes... what happened to them?_

He almost fell, but his instincts quickly kicked in and grabbed the nearest object, the cross on the gravestone.

Gajeel observed the gravestone. ''Why the hell did I stop here? Nothin' important from what I can see...'' he trailed off, thinking about the possibilities of why his legs took him there.

 _Maybe I'm being possessed... hah, don't make me laugh, brain._

Checking the name on the gravestone, his mouth dropped in shock. Adrenaline flowed through his veins. His excitement covered up his own fear.

The grave read:

 _IN LOVING MEMORY OF LEVY MCGARDEN._

 _DIED AGE 13._

 _A VIOLINIST WHO HAD A FUTURE._

* * *

Gajeel then jolted up from his train seat, eyes still widened and not yet recovered from the shock and ecstasy from his dream.

Just then, a person's voice boomed from the speakers located in the corners of the train, '' _Next stop, Crocus!''_

* * *

 **Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Please don't kill me :P**


End file.
